helping Lebanese mothers improve their entrepreneurial skills

Groupe Bel – the multinational cheese marketer, teamed up in 2019 with Berytech to launch the ‘Kiri Mompreneur Challenge’ to help mothers develop their innovative idea or project into a viable business. The official announcement came on Mother’s Day, celebrated on March 21 in Lebanon.

The ‘Kiri Mompreneur Challenge’ was open for mothers based in Lebanon, with an early-stage project which contributed to improving the future of society and the planet. It was open for mothers who were innovating in art, education, culture, food or any other societal or environmental field with a validated business idea. 

Competition Details

There were 30 shortlisted applicants given access to a series of capacity building and business development workshops by Berytech’s Business Support and Development team, helping them refine their business models and perfect their business plans for the second selection round. Then 11 semi-finalists were selected to be extensively trained for pitching their projects in front of the jury and the public on the competition’s finale. During the finale, 5 finalists pitched their startup in front of a jury panel. The finalists had gone through intensive one-on-one pitching training to prepare them for the final ceremony.

Judging Criteria

What Kiri and Berytech were looking for was an innovative idea or project that was competitive, viable and scalable. Innovation could be either technology-driven or not. Innovation could also be in the raw materials used to offer a product. 

• The offered product or service had to be new, at least in the target market or in its production or delivery method. 
• Validation needed to be done using a sample of the target market through questionnaires, interviews, focus group or other methods. 
• The Mompreneur needed to have a good understanding of her competition and able to describe her competitive advantage. 
• The project or idea needed to be financially viable and profitable while showing potential for growth and long-term replicability.